On April 13, 1961, the day after Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space, 64-year-old local pilot Opal Kunz sent a letter to President John F. Kennedy volunteering to “ride in any contraption offered by my government to outdo this record flight of the Russian.”
According to a Sacramento Bee article on June 4, 1961, Opal received a polite letter of thanks from the president. The article went on to note that Opal, who lived in the Roseville area with her three dogs, was not fooling when she wrote the letter.
Opal Giberson married gemologist and Tiffany & Co. Vice President George Kunz in 1923. In 1929, she earned her pilot’s license in New York and immediately entered a whirlwind of adventure and publicity. She was a charter member of the Ninety-Nines, an organization of female pilots that formed in 1929, and she served as its first president. Her husband, George, designed the “99” pin the group wore. Fellow charter member Amelia Earhart succeeded her as president.
After the U.S. entered World War II, Opal was hired as an instructor at the Rhode Island State Airport for Navy cadets where she ultimately taught several hundred young men to fly for the U.S. Navy. After the war, Opal was hired by Aerojet in Rancho Cordova as an inspector. After retiring from Aerojet, she moved to Auburn, and it was there that she died in 1967. Opal is buried in the Old Auburn Cemetery and is sometimes highlighted in the Old Auburn Cemetery Tour, which will be Oct. 2 this year. Visit the Placer County Museums website to stay up to date on the latest events. Learn more
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